Notes and Editorial Reviews

[One] of the liveliest of ballet scores, though...heard distinctly more often in concert than in the theatre. Indeed in its original form as a ballet called Grohg, I fancy the Copland has never seen the stage. It may be—Grohg was a necrophilic magician who taught his victims to dance—that we have not missed all that much; but it is certainly the case that when Copland recast sections of the music as a Dance Symphony we gained a good deal in the concert room. One supposes that necrophils must have their drearier moments; if Grohg did it was during the excised sections of the ballet. The music to be heard now is far from dreary; it threw out in 1925 suggestions of Copland's future lyrical as well as vivaciously rhythmic style, and in itsRead more colourful scoring must have as immediate an appeal as much of his later work.

...The Copland is...given entirely convincingly, though perhaps without quite the warmth of sound elicited from the LSO by Copland himself in his disc of a few years ago... [T]he recording of the new disc, with or without quite the degree of warmth concerned (and in spite of what must surely be the over-emphasis of an occasional string solo), has verve and clarity to spare: the disc would be a strong candidate in any price category at all.

-- Gramophone [3/1978]reviewing the original LP release of the Copland

[T]he Ives New England Holidays is exceptionally fine: Johanos shapes the muted snowscapes of “Washington’s Birthday” with genuine feeling as well as a profound understanding of the music’s color and moods. The Dallas strings sound rich and subtle in the sensual opening bars of the “Thanksgiving” movement. While this version of New England Holidays doesn’t efface memories of the even finer Bernstein recording, it is a welcome reissue and the centerpiece of this set.

-- Michael Fine, FANFARE [7/2003]reviewing the Ives previously reissued as part of Vox 5182Read less

Customer Reviews

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